Patrick Bingham-Hall

A luscious survey of forty-five of the most interesting tropical houses built in south-east Asia and Australia over the last fifty years, arranged decade by decade. This stunningly illustrated volume present forty-five of the most interesting tropical houses of the last fifty years, surveying India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia and northern Australia, arranged decade by decade. Author Patrick Bingham-Hall sets the houses in context arguing that climate, colonization and modernism, as well as geo-political events since the end of World War II, and even air conditioning, have created a very specific set of circumstances and therefore houses. These are buildings with pitched roofs, broad overhangs and eaves, verandas, big doors and windows, that optimize airflow and solar orientation. Larger-than-life, open to the elements, this is soaring architecture with a strong sense of place. Bingham-Hall makes the case that this is architecture that’s environmentally attuned and innately sustainable. It’s also a book of lush, jaw-dropping houses that seamlessly blend indoor and out, in locations anyone would want to visit.

It is by no coincidence that another collaborative project is spear-headed by K2LD. Following the success of the Lien Villa Collective at Holland Park, Singapore in 2009, Ko Shiou Hee was asked to look at a similar concept for the Dalvey Estate property and to select and lead a group of architects in the making of a unique architecture expression and yet functional outcome, suitable for contemporary living and fit for rental. It was learning from Game Theory that Ko Shiou Hee succeeded in persuading his clients to adopt this sharing strategy both in the Lien Collective and the Dalvey 7 group. The selected architects must all adhere to the rules of the game and work on the same fees and briefs. All have to consider each other's placements and planning to maximise the benefit for all parties as a whole and eventually benefit the client. As architects, each firm, and their practicing architects, has been educated to work with social, economic, and environmental sensitivity. The world that architects operate in is driven by developers and stakeholders who maximise their gain through development strategies, but leave little chance to be true to the architectural profession. It is perhaps even more pressing for architects to address this issue of true collaborative spirit in this increasingly distortive egocentric world. Through this Dalvey 7 project, there is hope in the idea outlined in Game Theory to perpetuate and flourish in this profession to encourage sharing and collaboration. Perhaps more form of joint venture in various scales like big firm-small firm, local firm-foreign firm, developer-architect venture, design-built etc, will begin to surface.